Hungarian Grand Prix: Friday Recap

Round 11 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship began with practice on Friday at the Hungaroring in Budapest as teams prepared for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Friday’s track action consisted of two 60-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 4.381-kilometer (2.722-mile), 14-turn circuit – both sessions held in hotter than normal conditions with air temperature topping out at 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and track temperature hitting 63 degrees Celsius (145.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher opened FP1 with a wake-up outing on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires. Next on the run-plan was a switch to the Red compound for a stint on the softest rubber available – both drivers setting their fastest laps despite a brief stop to the session thanks to a red flag caused by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Schumacher logged a 1:20.383 to place P17 while Mazepin recorded a 1:20.992 for P19. The session concluded with a short high-fuel run to take the checkered – Schumacher remaining on softs with Mazepin utilizing the mediums.

FP2 saw both cars start the session under the blazing afternoon sunshine on the mediums. With a handful of laps banked Mazepin and Schumacher returned to the garage for softs and the start of their qualifying simulation. Unfortunately for Mazepin, a puncture on his right-rear tire forced an immediate return to the pits – the Russian rookie denied a crack at a fast lap. Schumacher produced a 1:19.817 lap on the softs, placing the German rookie P18, while Mazepin’s earlier best time on the mediums – a 1:21.881, left him P20 on the timesheet. Both the medium and hard tires were later sampled by each driver in long-distance runs to close out the session.

Uralkali Haas F1 Team ran a total of 106 laps on Friday across FP1 and FP2 – 51 by Mazepin and 55 by Schumacher.

 

Nikita Mazepin, Driver No. 9, Uralkali Haas F1 Team

“It was a physical day, but we got lot of laps done. Unfortunately, I had a puncture in the afternoon which prevented me from any soft tire running but we compensated and got a very long run. Although it isn’t perfect on a track where you can’t overtake, there’s loads of laps completed, experience and data gathered. Ever since Silverstone, we’ve managed to stabilize the car well and obviously on a track where you lose the rears, like Silverstone, we’ve achieved a good pace on long runs. We need to rebalance the car to have more front end in slow speed corners and we’ll be good.”

 

Mick Schumacher, Driver No. 47, Uralkali Haas F1 Team

“I think it was a positive start in the sense that we were able to accomplish our run plan. Obviously, in terms of speed we’re a bit adrift but hopefully if I manage to get a good lap in, we’ll be a bit closer to Williams, which is what we’re hoping for. We had two very different types of tire wear in the two practice sessions. Today we had 63-degree track temperature – that’s the hottest I’ve ever seen it. For Sunday, the temperature should be a bit cooler and hopefully we will have done enough in terms of research to be able to keep up with the others.”


Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Uralkali Haas F1 Team

“It was a pretty good session. We had a slow puncture with Nikita during FP2 on his soft tire which we need to look into. No real problem – we just did our job. We got enough data and the guys got to learn the track in a Formula 1 car. So far, all good. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

 

Today's Data

Event: Free Practice 1 & 2 for the Hungarian Grand Prix – Friday July 30
Location: Hungaroring, Budapest
Layout: 4.381-kilometer (2.722-mile), 14-turn circuit
FP1 & FP2 Weather: Sunny
Drivers: Nikita Mazepin & Mick Schumacher 

Free Practice No. 1 Rundown

Schumacher: 17th overall (1:20.383), 26 laps completed
Mazepin: 19th overall (1:20.992), 23 laps completed
Fastest Driver: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:17.555)
Most Laps: Gasly (AlphaTauri) / Ricciardo (McLaren) – 27 laps

Free Practice No. 2 Rundown

Schumacher: 18th overall (1:19.817), 29 laps completed
Mazepin: 20th overall (1:21.881), 28 laps completed
Fastest Driver: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes (1:17.012)
Most Laps: Carlos Sainz of Scuderia Ferrari – 32 laps